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Feeling Sleepy? You're Not Alone

With daylight saving time just around the corner, a new study shows roughly 75 percent of Americans aren't getting the sleep they need. NBC's Chris Clackum reports. (Published Friday, March 9, 2018)

U.S. clocks will "spring forward" again on March 11 to make room for an extra hour of sunlight in the evenings as winter fades away.

Daylight saving time officially starts at 2 a.m. Sunday, when clocks are pushed forward one hour to 3 a.m.

When you go to bed on Saturday night, don’t forget to turn your watches, alarms and microwaves forward an hour. Electronic devices, like cellphones, by default are set to automatically update the time as it changes.

In observance of the biannual switch in time, here are some things you may not have known about this event.

Pros & Cons of Florida's Daylight Saving Bill

Are you excited about the prospect of Daylight Saving Time year-round, or do you think it's going to throw South Florida off course? Here are some pros and cons about the contentious Sunshine Protection Act, which would make Daylight Saving Time permanent.

(Published Friday, March 9, 2018)

It Has an Impact on Your HealthSwitching into and out of daylight saving can disturb people’s sleeping routines, making them more restless at night, according to U.S. News and World Report. However, morning people tend to be less bothered by the changes. Studies have shown that during the first week of daylight saving time there is a spike in the number of reported heart attacks. Some experts suggest, according to the report, that the loss of an hour’s rest may make people more vulnerable to an attack. Nonetheless, when people get an extra hour in the fall, the incidents of heart attacks are less than usual.

When Was DST ImplementedBefore President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act in 1966, which established a uniform daylight saving time, local governments could start and end daylight saving time as they desired. For five weeks a year Boston, New York and Philadelphia were not on the same time as Washington, D.C., Cleveland or Baltimore. Different daylight saving times also caused confusion for travelers going from the Midwest to Northeast.

In 2005, President George W. Bush extended the daylight saving time for an extra four weeks through an energy bill. Since 2007, daylight saving time has begun on the second Sunday of March, ending on the first Sunday of November.

Not All States Observe DSTArizona and Hawaii are currently the only two states that do not observe daylight saving time. Indiana did not observe the practice until 2005. The American territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands also do not participate.

Several states have tried to end the tradition of re-setting the time twice a year, but haven't been successful. In the last few months alone, at least four states have attempted to eliminate daylight saving time. Montana, Oklahoma and Utah failed to pass bills that would keep their states on standard time year round. In Florida, the State Senate on Tuesday approved a bill to forgo the twice annual time change. The Sunshine Protection Act is headed to Gov. Rick Scott's desk for his signature or veto.

A Founding Father Did Not Come Up with DSTAccording to the History Channel, Benjamin Franklin did not come up with the idea of daylight saving time; he only suggested a change in sleep schedules.

Englishman William Willett is the one who suggested in 1905 that the United Kingdom move its clocks forward by 80 minutes between April and October, so people could enjoy the sunlight. He published "The Waste of Daylight" and spent much of his fortune and time promoting the idea.

Confirm Your Phone's Automatic Time ChangesIt's good to confirm if your phone or other electronic devices have changed to the correct time. In 2013, iPhone customers experienced a daylight saving time bug. Some users saw two different times displayed on their calendar app, which was apparently caused by a change that moved daylight saving time back a week in 2007. In 2010 iPhones had another problem in which the phones did not correctly change alarm schedules when daylight saving time ended, causing some European iPhone users to wake up late for work, while Australians were woken up early.